Kate Hudson: Movie Bride-to-Be, Real-Life Mom-to-Be

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Kate Hudson’s worn nearly as many wedding gowns than Elizabeth Taylor – on screen, at least.

While most women are saddled with a closet corner filled with one-use bridesmaids dresses, Hudson – who stars as a self-centered bride-to-be in “Something Borrowed,” the film adaptation of Emily Griffin’s bestselling novel, and is engaged off-screen to musician Matt Bellamy – chuckles over the sheer amount of wedding gowns she’s worn in her films.

Cast Aside: Actors Who Almost Had the Part

“I think I’m at seven,” she laughs. “Let’s do this: ‘About Adam,’ ‘Dr. T and the Women,’ ‘Bride Wars,’ ‘Four Feathers’ – Did I wear a wedding dress in ‘Four Feathers?’ No. ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’ – That was a bridesmaid dress. I’m missing a bunch! Did I wear a wedding dress in ‘Fool’s Gold?’ No.”
Whatever the final tally, Hudson was thrilled to gown up yet again for her latest project, primarily because she fell for the unrepentantly narcissistic Darcy, who ends up in an agonizing love triangle between her long-suffering bestie Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her own fiancé Dex (Colin Egglesfield).

“She gets to say all the things that nobody else wants to say,” says Hudson, who collaborated with the filmmakers to make Darcy a little less unsavory as her literary counterpart. “It is challenging to take a character that is just written very unlikeable – it was very easy to make her the villain. Then it would make it easier for them, for Dex and Rachel, [to have their affair] I thought it was really more real and interesting if you made all the characters who they are, but somewhat likeable. It makes you question the whole dilemma.”

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Hudson, who’s due to give birth to her second child any day now, wasn’t pregnant when the role was offered to her, but she was looking to spend some time away from the soundstage. “I had just gone from doing ‘Nine’ and then a film called ‘Earthbound,’ and I was ready to be home,” she says. “[Producers] Hilary Swank and Molly Smith came over and were like, “Just read the book.” I didn’t even look at it because I was like, “No, I’m not working!’ But I started reading the book and Darcy was just such a hilarious character because she’s just so deeply self-centered. I’d never really played a part like that before, so I thought ‘Well, this is going to be fun.’

Growing up in the home of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and watching how various Hollywood types interacted with them, Hudson says she developed “a pretty good radar for bullsh*t,” enough to avoid friendships that come with betrayals. “I don't think I’ve ever been in that situation, really,” she explains. “I also have that thing where I feel like any situation you find yourself in, you have to take responsibility for it yourself. If you’re in a relationship with a friend who’s using you, you have to take some responsibility for not recognizing that that’s what they were doing.”

Now she’s gone from wedding gown wardrobe to real-life maternity wear, and she admits her current pregnancy is completely different from his first with son Ryder, 7. “I mean, couldn’t be more opposite – everything,” she says. “This time I’m actually set up, whereas before, I remember with Ryder I didn’t even have a nursery. I was trying to get the nursery together. I didn’t really have a house until I was seven months pregnant. This time it feels like I actually got to paint a nursery. I actually have a color in a room.”

Her son’s also enjoying her road to mommyhood. “He likes making fun of me – ‘You’re huge!’ and all that kind of stuff,” she says. “He’s very protective. I put spicy stuff on my food, and he goes, ‘Mom, don’t eat that. The baby might not like spicy!’ I was like ‘What is going on?’ All of a sudden he doesn’t want me to drive a car: ‘You shouldn’t be driving.’ I can’t get up on anything high. I got up on the thing to get his ball out and he just went, ‘Get down!’ He’s very protective. It’s pretty cute.”

Because the book Something Borrowed spawned the equally successful follow-up Something Blue (written from Darcy’s point of view), Hudson thinks she may revisit her vain alter ego even more sympathetically if the film hits as big with moviegoers. “Hopefully in a sequel get to take that character and really, really turn her around. In Something Blue she loses everybody and has to re-establish what she is, who she is and who she’s been.”

Published at 2:46 PM EDT on May 3, 2011 | Updated at 2:42 PM EDT on May 30, 2012